HOW TO BE GREAT AT WHAT YOU DO

Today's Quotation:

A good example is the best sermon. Benjamin Franklin

As a manager, these words strike an important note in my heart. The things I do, and the examples I set, resonate through the lives of those who observe and learn from me--primarily my team members. If I tell them not to loose their temper, and then i loose them myself, the message they get is that it is ok to loose it. If I tell them to respect others, but then turn around and show disrespect towards someone, guess what they learn.

One of the most powerful examples I set for my team is the way I treat my clients, my commitments and deadlines, for it is through the examples of how we treat our deadlines , that our team members will come to understand and form the basis of how they will treat their deadlines when they are given the assignments. Furthermore, such examples are cyclical, often passed down from one level to another.

To be a great leader and human bieng in general, i need to ponder on, Am I a good role model? Do I do the things I encourage others to do, and not do the things I tell others not to do? Do I carry myself in a way that promotes adding positively to my life and the lives of those around me? Am I an example of love, kindness, compassion, and helpfulness? Am I a person of integrity and character--having strong morals and ethics as well as putting them to use for others to see? Make a conscious decision to be a good role model to others in life. Know that if you can show even one person the positive effects of leading a good life, they will have the opportunity to learn from it and emulate it in their own life. And each life you touch, is another ripple in the stillness of the water, each ripple has the potential to stir up the entirety of the pond. You affect lives whether you know it or not. Choose to make that effect a positive one.

Today's Challenge: Make sure you teach other positive things through your examples today.

Questions to consider:

Who are you a role model for? In what ways? What is the message that you send to others through your examples? Are you an encouraging force in the world, or a discouraging one?

For further thought:

It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself. Eleanor Roosevelt